The Power of Myth and Storytelling: Part 4 – Your Deep and Eternal Truth
Wednesday 8th July, 2009
Joseph Campbell saw mythology as “the homeland of the muses, the inspirers of art, the inspirers of poetry”. And he said that “to see life as a poem and yourself participating in a poem is what myth does for you.” (1) Myth and poetry, along with art and ritual are doors or keys at the interface of where the inner world and outer world meet. They are languages of the soul which “bring out the grand lines in nature and in doing so, re-establish us in our own deep truth, which is at one with that of all being”. (2)
Slí na Fírinne – The Way of Truth
The Irish have a saying, fírinne gheal, “bright truth”, and in my work I have developed and follow the pathway of fírinne gheal an croí: bright truth of the heart. The Irish word for truth, fírinne, implies such depth, or síoraí fírinne, eternal truth. Our deep and eternal truth unifies us with our sense of Sovereignty and the High King – the flow of vision, intention and instinct with heart and soul entwining endlessly in the dance of life. When we contact this deep place of truth we are able to live our life with wholeness, harmony and radiance – the requirements, Campbell believed, necessary for true art. Thus our life becomes our own unique artistic expression. Gandhi believed that the pursuit of truth is true Bhakti (devotion) and the path that leads to God. “It is the talisman by which death itself becomes the portal to life eternal.” (3) The Irish would say Slí na Fírinne – the way of truth. Traditionally someone who has died is seen as on the “way of truth”. Truth in the broad sense – in thought, in speech, in action – is true empowerment and the essence of being visionary. There can be no inward peace without truth. The Irish mystery traditions embrace the power of fírinne gheal, an eternal truth from which true vision arises. Then we are able to follow truth according to our own lights – which is, Gandhi said, our duty. The seeds of our truth are embodied in our myths. In a way myths are like a soul shrine, protecting vital essence that is the “stuff of life”.
References
1. The Power of Myth Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers, Doubleday, 1988, pg 55 2. The Inner Reaches of Outer Space, Joseph Campbell, Harper & Rowe 1988, pg132 3. Mani Bhavan - Gandhi Sangrahalaya